Borusan Contemporary Opens Two Exhibitions Asking How Images Shape Reality

Two new exhibitions open at Borusan Contemporary in Istanbul on September 19, 2026, and they share a single question: how do images shape what we think is real? One exhibition looks back at photography’s history; the other looks forward at the digital present. Together, they argue that the act of looking itself has always been the subject.

The two exhibitions currently on view at Borusan Contemporary both deal with mediation — how images carry meaning and memory from one moment to another. Olivo Barbieri: Time Space Geometry and Haunted, shown together as a collection presentation, run in parallel at the museum.

Barbieri’s First Solo Exhibition inTürkiye

Olivo Barbieri: Time Space Geometry is the Italian photographer’s first solo exhibition in Türkiye. Curated by Dr. Fırat Arapoğlu, the show brings together works from five major series spanning more than four decades of Barbieri’s practice. The artist moves from ancient archaeological sites and contemporary cities to waterfalls, the Alps, and Capri.

This show looks at how size, point of view, and tricks with light affect how we see places around us. It includes a set of pictures made especially for the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection, which centers on nine old cities throughout Türkiye. These photographs make their first appearance, turning well-known scenes into something that feels both familiar and strange at the same time.

Barbieri’s work asks how places are seen, remembered, and reconstructed. The photographs do not simply document locations; they intervene in the viewer’s experience of those locations. Scale becomes a tool, perspective becomes a choice, and the result is a sense of place that is simultaneously familiar and alien.

Haunted: Technology as Subject

Haunted, curated by Dr. Kumru Eren, Director of Borusan Contemporary, features works from the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection by artists including Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Memo Akten, teamLab, Quayola, Zimoun, DRIFT, Marco Brambilla, and Daniel Canogar, along with works on paper by Kemal Önsoy. The show represents a distinct direction from the first exhibition.

Instead of viewing technology merely as a means of delivery, the exhibition examines how artificial intelligence, algorithms, data technologies, and digital culture now play a central role in shaping the images through which reality is constructed, experienced, and preserved.

Two Exhibitions, Two Perspectives

The two shows run side by side at Borusan Contemporary in Istanbul, both taking up the subject of how images shape our grasp of reality — from scenes molded by the very act of looking to worlds now more often built by computer systems.

The Barbieri show looks back through history, charting how photographic methods changed over many years. By contrast, The Haunted takes up the present day, studying the here and now of digital culture.

This comparison does not aim to settle which show is superior. Instead, it explores how two distinct approaches to image-making — one based in physical materials, the other entirely composed of code — share a common bond: the relationship between the person looking at the work and what they see.

The Act of Looking

Barbieri’s photographs use scale, perspective, and optical intervention to shape the viewer’s perception of place. His new series on ancient cities continues that tradition, transforming familiar landscapes into something that feels both recognizable and unfamiliar.

The show’s central inquiry concerns how places are perceived, recalled, and rebuilt. This question applies with equal force to both the ancient cities and the modern urban settings that Barbieri has documented over his career.

Digital Culture and Memory

The Haunted exhibition places technology at the center rather than treating it as an impartial means to an end. Instead, the artists included examine how AI, algorithms, data systems, and digital culture actually form the images through which reality gets made, seen, and recalled.

Among the artists represented in the show are Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Memo Akten, teamLab, Quayola, Zimoun, DRIFT, Marco Brambilla, and Daniel Canogar. Works on paper by Kemal Önsoy round out the presentation.

The Shows Run in Parallel

Both exhibitions address the theme of mediation. Barbieri’s photographs mediate the viewer’s experience of place through scale and perspective. The Haunted exhibition meditates on how technology mediates our experience of reality.

The shows open on September 19, 2026.

Conclusion

Borusan Contemporary is currently hosting two exhibitions that trace how images have defined our sense of reality over many centuries. The project centers on the act of looking, moving from the early work of Barbieri through to the digital present.

The Barbieri exhibition follows the development of photographic technology through years gone by, while The Haunted exhibition looks at the present state of digital culture. Both shows make the same point: images do not simply record reality passively. Instead, they work as active forces in shaping how we build our world.

Together, they argue that the act of looking itself has always been the subject.

Source material: “Borusan Contemporary Presents Two New Exhibitions,” Hyperallergic.

Borusan Contemporary · digital art · exhibitions · Istanbul · Olivo Barbieri · photography